This invention relates to a new and useful process using various metal oxides in the acid-sulfolane catalyzed reactions of monovinyl aromatic compounds with olefinic compounds to produce cyclic alkylated compounds.
The acid catalyzed reaction of monovinyl aromatic compounds and olefinic compounds to produce cyclic alkylated compounds is known in the art. It is also known in the art that a primary drawback of these reactions is the dimerization of the starting reactants. The monovinyl aromatic compounds dimerize to produce both acyclic and cyclic dimers. The production of cyclic dimers is undesirable, because unlike the acyclic dimers they do not re-convert to the starting monovinyl aromatic compound. This, therefore, results in low yields of the desired cyclic alkylated products. Likewise, the starting olefinic compound dimerizes into a mixture of oligomers which do not necessarily re-convert to the starting olefinic compounds. This too results in low yields of the desired cyclic alkylated product.
Because of the aforementioned problems, it is of interest to the chemical industry to discover methods and/or reactants that minimize these undesired side reactions, while maximizing the yield of the desired product. This invention represents a successful attempt in maximizing the yield of the desired cyclic alkylated product.